Robotic surgical systems and devices are well suited for use in performing minimally invasive medical procedures, as opposed to conventional techniques that may require large incisions to open the patient's body cavity to provide the surgeon with access to internal organs. For example, a robotic surgical system may be utilized to facilitate imaging, diagnosis, and treatment of tissues which may lie deep within a patient, and which may be preferably accessed only via naturally-occurring pathways such as blood vessels or the gastrointestinal tract. One such robotic surgical system that may be utilized in such a minimally invasive procedure is a robotic catheter system. A robotic catheter system utilizes a robot, external to the patient's body cavity, to insert a catheter through a small incision in a patient's body cavity and guide the catheter to a location of interest.
Catheters by design are typically made of a flexible material that allows for maneuverability through the patient's body cavity, especially the complex tortuosity of blood vessels. The flexible nature of the catheter can cause the catheter to bend, flex, or buckle in an undesirable manner at a point external to the patient's body cavity when force is exerted to insert the catheter into and throughout the body cavity.
Current anti-buckling devices may protect the catheter from undesired flexing and bending, but typically are cost-prohibitive as their structures are complex, requiring multiple components and increased assembly time. Further, known anti-buckling mechanisms often must be placed within the sterile field, requiring disposal of the anti-buckling mechanism at the conclusion of each procedure. Accordingly, there is a need for alternative anti-buckling mechanisms.